Citing Text Sources

Citing Text Sources

MLA Format


Follow these examples to cite text sources using MLA style.

  1. Citing a Book with One Author

    2. Author (last name, first name). Book title. City of publication: Publisher name, year published. Medium of publication.

    The title of the book can be italicized or underlined.

    Examples:
    Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.

  2. Citing a Book with More Than One Author
    3.

    First author (last name, first name), and second author (first name last name). Book title. City of publication: Publisher name, year published. Medium of publication.

    Notice that the first author’s name should be written last name first, and the second author’s name (and all subsequent author names) should be written first name last name. Alternatively, if there are more than three authors, you can choose to name only the first author (last name first) and replace the subsequent author names with et al., which is Latin for “and others.”

    Examples:
    Haviland, William, A., et al. Introduction to Anthropology. New Delhi: Wadsworth, 2007. Print.

    Ableman, Michael, and Cynthia Wisehart. On Good Land: The Autobiography of an Urban Farm. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998. Print.

    Hawking, Lucy, Stephen Hawking, and Christophe Galfard. George’s Secret Key to the Universe. Great Britain: Doubleday, 2007. Print.

  3. Citing Two or More Works by the Same Author
    4.

    Author (last name, first name). Book title. City of publication: Publisher name, year published. Medium of publication.

    ---. Book title. City of publication: Publisher name, year published. Medium of publication.

    For two or more works by the same author, use the author’s name only in the first entry. In the next entry, use three hyphens and a period in place of the name. The three hyphens show that the same author wrote both works. Also, notice that the next entries are listed in alphabetical order.

    Example:
    Haviland, William A. et al. Introduction to Anthropology. New Delhi: Wadsworth, 2007. Print.
    ---. Evolution and Prehistory: The Human Challenge. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010. Print.

  4. Citing a Book with an Editor or Translator
    5.

    Author (last name, first name). Book title. Ed. and/or trans. Name of editor or translator (first name, last name). City of publication: publisher name, year published. Medium of publication.

    Example:
    Koupelis, Theo, and Karl F. Kuhn. In Quest of the Universe. Ed. Dean Dechambeau. London: Jones and Bartlett Publishers International, 2007. Print.

  5. Citing a Book That Has More Than One Edition
    6.

    Author (last name, first name). Book title. Edition. City of publication: publisher name, year published. Medium of publication.

    Example:
    Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. 5th ed. London: John Murray, 1869. Print.

  6. Citing an Article from a Scholarly Journal
    7.

    Author (last name, first name). “Article title.” Name of the journal volume number.issue number (year published): page number(s). Medium of publication.

    Example:
    Evaristo, Jaivime, Scott Jasechko, and Jeffrey J. McDonnell. “Global Separation of Plant Transpiration from Groundwater and Streamflow.” Nature 525 (2015): 91–94. Web.

  7. Citing a Magazine Article
    8.

    Author (last name, first name). “Article title.” Magazine name Day Month Year published: page number(s). Medium of publication.

    This format is also used to cite an article from a collection of articles, essays, short stories, or poems.

    Example:
    Makary, Marty. “The Cost of Chasing Cancer.” Time 10 Mar. 2014: 24. Print.

  8. Citing a Newspaper Article in Print
    9.

    Author (last name, first name). “Article title.” Newspaper Day Month Year published edition: page number(s). Medium of publication.

    Example:
    Powell, Devin. “Replacing Pesticides With Genetics.” The New York Times 1 Sept. 2015: D3. Print.

  9. Citing a Website
    10.

    Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

    If the publisher’s name is unavailable, use the abbreviation n.p. If no publication date is given, use the abbreviation n.d. MLA format does not require the URL (website address). However, if your teacher requests that you include URLs for your sources, add the entire address in angle brackets after the date of access: <website address>.

    Example:
    Jim Wilson. NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.

  10. Citing an Online Article
    11.

    Author (last name, first name). “Article title.” Web magazine title. Publisher name, date published. Medium of publication. Date of access.

    Example:
    Association for Psychological Science. “Feeling blue and seeing blue: Sadness may impair color perception.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 Sept. 2015. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.

  11. Citing an Online Encyclopedia Article or a Dictionary Entry
    12.

    Author’s name (if available). “Article title.” Name of publication. Edition. Year published. Medium of publication. Date of access.

    Example:
    Edwards, Clive A. “Pesticides.” Encyclopedia.com. 2004. Web. 7 Sept. 2015.

  12. Citing an Article from a Website
    13.

    Author’s name (if available). “Article title.” Website title. Publisher name, date published. Page number(s) (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

    If the publisher’s name is unavailable, use the abbreviation n.p. If no publishing date is given, use the abbreviation n.d.

    Example:
    “How Do We Know that Humans Are the Major Cause of Global Warming?” Union of Concerned Scientists: Science for a healthy planet and safer world. Union of Concerned Scientists, n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.

  13. Citing an Article from an Online Database
    14.

    Author’s name (if available). “Article title.” Name of periodical volume number.issue number (date published): page number(s). Name of database. Medium of publication. Date of access.

    You only need to cite the information that is available. If no page numbers are listed, use n. pag.

    Example:
    Shankar, Ananda G. “Contact Tracing for Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 Virus-infected Passenger on International Flight.” 20.1 (2014): 118–20. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Web. 1 Oct. 2014.

  14. Citing a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
    15.

    Author’s name (if available). Title of publication. Editor, compiler, or translator (if given). Edition, release, or version (if given). City of publication: publisher name, date published. Medium of publication.

    As with websites, you need to cite only the information that is available.

    Example:
    American Geological Institute. Visions of Earth. Delmar Cengage Learning, 29 March 2009. DVD.